For the first time country’s smart phone market fell by 4 per cent in the October-December period last year as compared with the previous quarter, even as handset maker Samsung retains its top position as leading vendor with 22 per cent share, research firm IDC said on Tuesday. According to IDC’s latest quarterly report, total shipments of smart phones during the fourth quarter were about 22.5 million.
The Korean handset maker Samsung, which had a 24 per cent share of the India smart phone market in July-September 2014 quarter, has been facing intense competition in India from domestic rivals like Micromax and lava as well as global brands like Xiaomi and Motorola. In market share, Samsung is followed by Micromax at 18 per cent, Intex (eight per cent), lava (seven per cent) and Xiaomi (four per cent).
“The smartphone market observed shipment contraction in Q4 for the first time ever (quarter-on quarter-basis). This was largely owing to a high channel inventory at the beginning of the quarter amongst general trade, which in turn was caused by the surge witnessed in online sales during festive season,” IDC said in a statement.